Y-DNA genetic evidence reveals several different ancient origins in the Brahmin population
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Y‑DNA genetic evidence reveals several different ancient origins in the Brahmin population David G. Mahal1,2 Received: 11 July 2020 / Accepted: 9 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The ancient geographical origins of Brahmins—a prominent ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent—have remained controversial for a long time. This study employed the AMOVA (analysis of molecular variance) test to evaluate genetic affinities of this group with thirty populations of Central Asia and Europe. A domestic comparison was performed with fifty non-Brahmin groups in India. The results showed that Brahmins had genetic affinities with several foreign populations and also shared their genetic heritage with several domestic non-Brahmin groups. The study identified the deep ancient origins of Brahmins by tracing their Y-chromosome haplogroups and genetic markers on the Y-DNA phylogenetic tree. It was confirmed that the progenitors of this group emerged from at least 12 different geographic regions of the world. The study concluded that about 83% of the Brahmins in the dataset belonged to four major haplogroups, of which two emerged from Central Asia, one from the Fertile Crescent, and one was of an indigenous Indian origin. Keywords Brahmin · Haplotype · Haplogroup · India · Y-chromosome · Y-DNA
Introduction The Brahmins represent one of the largest ethnic groups in the Indian subcontinent with an estimated population of over 56 million people (Outlook 2007). Their predecessors created Hinduism which is now the largest religion in India and the third largest in the world. The ancient geographic origins of Brahmins have been debated for a long time. Some early historians believed that this ethnic group emerged from an ancient population known as the Aryans (Havell 1918). In this study, recent developments in DNA science were assessed to reveal that Brahmins had at least 12 ancient progenitors who, with one exception, originated outside the Indian subcontinent.
Brahmins and Hinduism The ancient Vedic religion—also known as Vedism or Brahmanism—was founded by ancestors of Brahmins Communicated by Stefan Hohmann. * David G. Mahal [email protected] http://www.davidmahal.com 1
DGM Associates, Pacific Palisades, CA, USA
Institut Avrio de Geneve, Geneva, Switzerland
2
between 2500 and 1500 BCE (Cooke 2011). The Vedic religion gradually evolved into Hinduism and became a fusion of various Indian cultures and traditions with diverse roots (Bowker 1997). In this religion, there are four varnas or castes—Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra—that signify a person’s profession and status in life (Sharma 2000). The Brahmins are the highest of these four castes in a stratified and endogamous social hierarchy of followers. They were self-designated as arya (“noble”) in Sanskrit—the lingua franca of ancient India—and their abode was known as aryavarta, or the land of the Aryans (Parpola 2015). Those in India have been referred to as Indo-Aryans. Traditionally, Brahmi
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